Guest blog post by Patrick Gallagher, Under Secretary of Commerce for
Standards and Technology and NIST Director

Doubling automobile fuel economy by 2025. Reducing the
weight of automobiles by up to half a ton each while maintaining or improving
safety. Saving millions of dollars annually in redesign and
re-tooling costs. These are some of the ambitious auto industry goals
supported by the Center for Automotive Lightweighting at the National Institute
of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Yesterday we were honored to host a visit by U.S. Senator
Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) to the lightweighting center. As chairwoman of
the Senate Appropriations Committee, Mikulski came to the NIST campus in
Gaithersburg, Md., as part of her continuing “Jobs Tour” in the state.

She also gave a talk to NIST staff about the recently
enacted Consolidated Appropriations Act
of2014. The act provides
$850 million in appropriations for NIST work through October 2014. Included is
a $30 million increase in funding for advanced manufacturing research. Such research provides manufacturers with the data and measurement tools and
technologies they need to continually improve their products and compete in the
global marketplace.

Established in 2006, the lightweighting center helps the
auto industry stay competitive by developing new measurement methods and
collecting critical data on the properties of lighter weight automotive alloys
and composites. During the tour, Senator Mikulski was shown samples of
new high-strength steels and aluminum and magnesium alloys that weigh up to 65
percent less and yet are stronger than the traditional mild steels that have
been used in vehicles for the past 100 years.

NIST-developed research instruments installed at
the center twist, press, stretch and squeeze the new lightweight materials to
better understand how they will perform when shaped into automotive parts,
including predicting safety during crash tests. The resulting data and
analysis of the materials behavior help companies reduce expensive trial and
error testing. By sharing fundamental materials properties data like this,
the NIST center allows individual manufacturers to use more of their own scarce
research dollars to leapfrog to better company-specific solutions and improved
products.

More than 30 companies and research universities,
including five automakers, have expressed interest in a new NIST Automotive
Lightweighting Consortium now being formed.